Purpose: Over the past few decades, universities have been recognized as ideal leaders for the development of policies and innovative solutions required to support the transition to sustainable societies. As a major stakeholder group, students play a significant role in moving this agenda forward; however, their actions remain understudied in the…

This paper addresses the interaction between European Union policies and national higher education sectors in the countries involved in the TRUE project (England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland) making the case for European governance. Relevant for this matter is the role of political processes that…

This report provides a comparative perspective on financial support for the arts in six western European countries, the United States, and Canada. It was designed so that American support for the arts could be compared with governmental support for the arts in other countries, whose philosophies and governmental systems might be similar or quite…

Noting that the fragmented approach to early childhood education in the United States has resulted in enormous variability in program quality, this report describes characteristics of the "ecole maternelle," the preschool system in France. The report is based upon observations made by 15 American delegates who visited 11 preschools in…

Beginning with the assumption that children across the full spectrum of family income, family composition, and prior experience with child care would benefit from being in a well-implemented preschool at 3 and 4 years of age, this working paper focuses on finding a feasible way to finance universal preschool for 4-year-olds. The paper begins with…

Patterns of government subsidies to higher education in five European countries are considered in order to provide a comparative perspective for U.S. policy-makers. Attention is focused on patterns of subsidizing both institutions and students for the five countries: France, West Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The…

A comparative analysis of family policy in various nations looks at state financial support for families and in particular how professional women in academia fare internationally with respect to state support for their families. The analysis includes a review of the general development of family support through the industrial revolution and the…

Workplace training strategies in selected foreign countries were examined from the standpoint of their relevance to development of a national training policy in the United States. Case studies of the following were conducted: apprenticeship training in Germany, enterprise-based training in Japan, stimulation of training by training taxes in France…

This report examines the financing of the two components of France's vocational education and training (VET) system. They are initial vocational training (IVT), which includes upper secondary and short forms of higher education, and continuing vocational training (CVT), which aims to help workers adapt to changes in working techniques and…

When Canadian parents look back on their own lives and the lives of their parents, they see changes across a generation that have profoundly affected their parenting experience, compared to when they themselves were young children. Supports for today's parents must take into consideration these changes that affect the care and nurturing of…